I love Todd Rundgren. I’ve been a fan since the early 1970s, and at this point I don’t see that ever changing. Like Neil Young, Todd is one of the most mercurial artists who still makes interesting records in all sorts of genres mainly to please himself. That’s made for lots of experimentation along the way resulting in all different types of records like Beatles sound-alikes, samba reworking of older material, a record of Robert Johnson covers (called Todd Rundgren’ s Johnson, no less), rap and disco. So even when Rundgren doesn’t hit the ball out of the park, say on records like (re)Production and One Long Year, you can always count on at least taking an interesting...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#845 in the Series) is Todd Rundgren, Live In Concert at the Warfield Theater It was 23 years ago today, Todd Rundgren brought his band to play.  Esoteric Recordings presents the Todd Rundgren Archive Series and if this is any indication, this is the start of something good. Todd Rundgren’s 1989 release Nearly Human was a bit of a re-visitation of his Philly Soul/R&B roots. Received to some critical acclaim, the album was recorded with a minimal amount of overdubs and this created a perfect live platform for a big 12-piece band. This recording documents the final show of this tour and has been newly mastered from the original master tapes, making...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Cosmic Convoy” by Todd Rundgren & Utopia If it had come out when it was recorded, it would have been met with shrugs, or even worse, total disdain. Instead, except for those lucky few who could afford an expensive Japanese import box set, we’ve had to wait 36 years for it to finally get a legal release, and then only in the U.K.  However, if you’re a fan of Todd Rundgren and Utopia, then it was totally worth the wait. Disco Jets was recorded in 1976, directly after sessions for the album Faithful. The album found Todd Rundgren with his head firmly in the past, giving half the tune stack...

  Song Of The Day by Eric Berman – “Bardo” by Todd Rundgren I’m kind of stuck in the middle of a Todd Rundgren jag at the moment. And if you’re a Todd fan, there are many reasons to be excited. With the recent releases of not one, but two new live recordings of the classic albums Todd (originally released in 1974)and Healing (1980) both from his recent tour, plus the belated appearance of the 1976 Utopia album Disco Jets, I guess I just can’t seem to get enough of that Todd stuff. It’s led me to revisit some albums from his catalog that I haven’t heard in a while. Once such album is his 2008 album, Arena, which,...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#738 in the Series) is Roger Powell, Air Pocket One of my favourites Sunday morning pastimes is the ¨catch-an-obscure-and-great lp¨ from the sales bin… Buenos Aires is fascinating in this respect: a big city, music lovers everywhere, lots of people with a great insight in local and foreign artists… Sometimes, something beautiful emerges from those dusty used lp´s bins And this one is a real gem… From the sleeve´s art (some distorted and pixelated video image), to the assorted keyboard juggernaut, the album screams 1980. Not 1979, not 1983. 1980. Why?  Well… in my subconscious, the period 1980/1981-82 was the epitome of the purest eighties zeitgeist: modernity without mannerism… and a lot...

      The 2012 Ringo Starr tour for 2012 has begun.  This is one of the strongest touring acts that he’s ever had behind him, or in front of him for that matter. As previously announced here, band members include Todd Rundgren, Gregg Rolie (Santana, Journey, Gregg Rolie Band), Richard Page (The Pages, Mr. Mister), Steve Lukather (Toto), Max Rivera (Bily Joel) and  Greg Bissonette. Here’s what everyone really wants to know however…. Here’s the set list. The set list Matchbox (Ringo) It Don’t Come Easy (Ringo) Wings (Ringo) Hello It’s Me (Rundgren) Evil Ways (Rolie) Rosanna (Lukather) Kyrie (Page) Don’t Pass Me By (Ringo) Bang the Drum All Day (Rundgren) Boys (Starr) Yellow Submarine (Starr) Black Magic...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#704 in the Series) is New York Dolls, New York Dolls The New York Dolls are a band that has, over time, come to be defined more by the drugs, debauchery, and deaths of various members than their actual music, and the original line-up has never been given enough credit for being good musicians, in my opinion. Much like The Sex Pistols and even The Ramones, they are always labelled as ‘influential’ in terms of style and attitude, without being given due respect for their musicianship and the songs they wrote and recorded. Then again, the reputation they had as being hell raisers was well earned. It isn’t a widely-known fact that...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#586 in the Series) is Todd Rundgren (TR-i), The Individualist. Todd Rundgren’s ever-changing diversity is often hard to keep up with and difficult to follow and, with the birth of TR-i (Todd Rundgren interactive) in 1993, he reinvented himself yet again, this time as an artist wanting to share sound and vision with fans in an intimate fashion. His first venture into his TR-i persona, “No World Order”, was mostly centered around producing a CD-i in which the listener could interact with the music in a non-linear fashion. It represented a chance for Todd to reinvent himself while providing an opportunity for the listener to talk back to the music. Todd basically used this moniker as a...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#498 in the Series) is Todd Rundgren, (Re)Production Todd’s (Re)Production is going to get a ton of bad reviews. Why you say? Well, this album just doesn’t come across that well on first listen. Unfortunately, that’s all most reviewers will give to a new disc. Not here, no no no.  I try to give a new release at least three spins before I take out my crayon and loose leaf paper, ok my laptop actually. One thing that we’ve discussed before is how albums that take a little longer to get into are usually the ones that stay with you longer. I feel that way.  That’s the case here. (Re)Production is all covers,...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#486 in the Series) is The Hooters, “Nervous Night.” The Hooters are yet another band from that hotbed of music, Philadelphia. I’ve always loved the Philly sound, Todd Rundgren, Hall and Oates etc. There must be something in that water by the port. “Nervous Night” was released in 1985 and features The Hooters ever present melodica. Hence the band name. The two main men in The Hooters are Eric Bazilian and Rob Hyman.  They handled most of the songwriting and all lead vocals.  Eric plays guitar and Rob keys mainly.  The act is filled out by Andy King on bass, John Lilley also on guitar and David Uosikkinen on drums. This was another...